John McCain Loves the Syrian Rebels, But Confuses Them With ISIS
Sen. John McCain made quite the gaffe on Sean Hannity's show last night. While criticizing Sen. Rand Paul's opposition to arming the "moderate" Syrian rebels, McCain slipped up and accidentally implied that he had met with ISIS. McCain clearly meant to say that he had met with the Free Syrian Army (the Syrian rebel group that McCain and the Obama administration support), and was vouching for its trustworthiness.
The mixup is noteworthy because critics like Paul are arguing that arming the Syrian rebels is not categorically different from arming ISIS—our enemy—since those weapons eventually make their way into the hands of ISIS terrorists anyway. While McCain and Obama want to make the case that the Free Syrian Army is the group worth supporting in the conflict, others have raised serious doubts that the rebels are as "moderate" or as organized as U.S. forces would like to believe.
Some media reports claimed that the Free Syrian Army agreed to a temporary truce with ISIS, given that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is a mutual enemy of both groups. And the family of Steven Sotloff, one of the journalists murdered by ISIS, has claimed that Syrian rebels actually sold Sotloff to ISIS for cash.
Watch McCain making a fool of himself here.
Elsewhere, Reason's Lucian McMahon notes that McCain is ready to send American troops into Syria, because of course he is.
Hat tip: The Daily Caller